Everyone Has Dirty Dishes: Why it’s ok to have a lived in home

It used to be, every Thursday night at 6:30pm was an in-home festival of zippy music, toe-tapping and hip shaking sounds and tempos that fueled the energy to master the magic from an arsenal of cleaning products.

Yes, everyone has dirty dishes in their sink –and most, even when they go to bed.

It didn’t matter if it was dirty dishes, streaky windows, or dust bunnies. It was sayonara to the tiniest of cobwebs, gunky crevices and goopy soap slivers. No more hair in the drain, stain in the sinks and the occasional fingerprint on the switch plate.

That was, what seems, like someone else’s world.

These days, and for the last many years, my Thursday nights ending with rooms as perfect and pristine like a page from House Beautiful, have been replaced with ample pathways lined with bins of Lego’s, containers of crayons and one giant catch-all plastic-something-or-another with pieces and parts from games, toys and trinkets. And, dirty dishes.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. It took a lot of mental acceptance and “girl, my house is like that too…” chats with other mommies before I realized that yes, everyone has dirty dishes in their sink –and most, even when they go to bed. And, the never-ending loads of laundry–who can catch up? At some point (as I justified), we’re either washing the clothes, drying the clothes, wearing the clothes or trying to blink the clothes to put themselves away as they sit folded (ok, not always folded) in a clothes basket for a few days. Or, maybe even a week. Or so. Ish. Fun Read: A Messy House Means Happy Kids

And the point is, dirty dishes will always be there, as will laundry, dust and Lego’s. Give yourself a parental pass for the next however many years until the kids are out of the house. While it does drive us crazy at times, one day, we will only wish for the messes and the telltale “child” was here fingerprints and crayons.

Does your home resemble organized chaos and you learned to be just fine with the lived-in look? Drop us a line, we’d love to hear from you and possibly share your story in an upcoming blog.

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